Screams of the Banshee
by OperationInsanitY
Summary: When a member of a military HAZMAT unit becomes infected during a routine clean-up with a new strain of the infection, how will he learn to cope with the situations and changes he will face in the future. Rated T for gore/violence, crude language and some possible mildly sexual material in later chapters.R&R please
1. Chapter 1

Hello there!

Short little summary before things kick off, I own nothing that has to do with anything concerning Valve or Left 4 Dead, if I did, I'd be comfortable wealthy. The only thing I own is the Banshee's concept and design, as well as a small handful of characters, anything else is copyright to Valve and the creators.

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The Green Flu, some said it marked the end of a civilization, others believed that the population would be reborn as something else, hybrids of the disease and other things. They were close, during this time, all that who were infected with the virus changed, at first, it was little changes, but then the group split in to two sub groups, the commons, and the special infected.

These special infected had horrible abilities, from leaping up to fifty feet across buildings to having more muscle and power then a military issue tank. Most believed that god was to blame, others, the conspiracy theorists, believed that it was the governments fault, and they were right.

It was an escaped man-made virus that mutated, and consumed its victims immune systems completely, and often took their sanity as well. It was a sad state of affairs, the population was slowly decreasing, and they had yet to find any survivor of the infection that was still sane. The government, at this time quietly initiated Project Overcast, a small little research program that set up Laboratories all over the country, and funded the research for the scientists to try and find a cure for the infection.

In charge of this entire project was General A. Thompson who, in addition to Project Overcast, commanded a small group of HAZMAT soldiers to take care of the messy 'clean up' duties.

During the first few weeks Project Overcast was in effect, a Nuclear power plant exploded just outside of California, and had no reason to go up in flames. So he sent in his little troops, and among the ranks were two young men, Shawn Anderson and Jason Black, the both of them had grown up together in the same city and had been close friends for a very long time.

By this time, both had enlisted in the Military's HAZMAT unit and both got approved. Both men had been completely ecstatic and celebrated with a few beers on the base, oblivious to what kind of trouble actually lurked for them in the world of the infected. When they got the call, of course, the men were exited, all except Jason, who was still hung over a fellow soldier, who had sadly, turned down his advances and the girl had broken his heart.

During this time, he became depressed, but of course, nothing would mentally prepare him for the hell he would soon face in the near future.

The sun was hidden behind overcast skies this morning, the smell of moisture was thick in the air, and fog hung heavy, blinding most and the air was chilly, not normal for the month of April, normally, it was warm, blistering hot and so muggy you were hardly able to breathe. The bugle sounded loudly at Five AM sharp, and Shawn sat up groggily, wiping the sleep out of his amber eyes, blinking slightly and yawned.

He licked his lips and swallowed, trying to wet his dry throat and ran a hand through his jet black hair and swung his legs on to the old wooden floor, feeling the grains on his bare feet and took a few deep breaths, looking over across the room to Jason's bunk, the man was already up and pulling on his uniform.

Shawn sighed and cracked his knuckles and pulled on his uniform as well, lacing up his black boots and stood up, shaving the morning stubble from his face, then brushed his teeth, still in a bit of an early morning trance, normally he wasn't so sleepy when he woke up, he thought about this for a moment and asked himself if he had been getting enough sleep recently.

He banished thought after a moment when he nicked the skin under his chin "Fuck off" He grumbled, washing his face and held some tissue paper to the cut until it stopped bleeding. He hated cutting himself with his razor, it was always in the stupidest places and they always stung like a bitch.

Jason on the other hand was having an early morning cup of coffee and a cigarette, his big grey eyes watching the sun rise a little, Shawn threw a towel at him "Look alive soldier" He joked, Jason flipped him off "Bugger off Shawn, I don't piss around with your morning routine, so why are you doing it to me?" He asked, a scowl carved on his face, Shawn laughed a little "Lighten up downer, so what if she rejected you? There are plenty of other broads out there that could use your company"

He spoke, sitting down beside Jason, the taller man looked over at his companion "You think so?" Shawn nodded "I know so" Jason sighed and stood up "Alright, but enough of this sappy crap or the General is going to think that we've gone soft" He spoke, setting his tin cup on the windowsill then went to go make his bed. Shawn nodded "Agreed" He spoke, another fellow soldier was up and walking around, Shawn looked over at him "Hey Michael, do you have any idea why we're up so early this morning?"

He asked, Michael nodded "Sure do, a nuclear power plant exploded just outside of Cali, and now we've gotta go clean it up" He spoke, a hint of distain in his voice, he hated clean up duty more than anything in the world, and would rather be a human guinea pig then a janitor.

The masses eventually found their way towards the mess hall where they lined up to get their breakfast then sat down. Steven made a grumbling noise, picking at this food "God I'm sick of Army food, I can't even tell what the hell this is" Jason pulled a face, but ate his runny eggs "It's like they're trying to kill us" He muttered, Shawn rolled his eyes "Don't be such a grouch" When they had finished, they set their trays on a separate table and awaited orders, General Thompson eventually stepped out and looked at them all

"Look alive men! Today we will be going to a Nuclear power plant, there will be radioactive material on the ground and you will be required to wear your HAZMAT suites and be screened before and after for traces of the Green Flu. We will be there for a total of three days, so every soldier must do their job and do it well, do I make myself clear?" He barked, the troops answered him "SIR! YES SIR!" General Thompson gave a half smile "Off to the trucks with you then!"

The soldiers left the room single file and loaded up in to the trucks, heavy canvas covered the box in the back, Shawn and Jason sat and enjoyed some idle conversation that slowly turned towards relationships "Hey, Black, how's that Nurse of yours? Oh I forgot, you got rejected!" A man laughed, eyes shut, Jason glared at him "Knock it off you putz" He growled, Shawn spoke up "Hey Stetson, why are you still single then?"

The man looked at him and smirked, then pulled a pose and blinked "Because girls are intimidated by my rugged good looks" Jason spoke up next "It's because girls don't like the Grizzly Addams type" The whole back of the truck started laughing, and Stetson quieted down "Trample off" He spoke, Michael pulled out a deck of cards "Anyone for a bit of harmless sin?" Jason and Shawn jumped at the opportunity, Stetson declined, trying to nurse his wounded ego.

After a few hours of travelling, they arrived a few hundred feet away from the plant and the men suited up, Jason pulling his gas mask on and looked at Shawn "I feel like a serial killer in this thing" He laughed, Shawn snickered and the both of them headed off the truck, Jason pulling on his gloves and Shawn pulled the hood of his suit up, a few men were pretending to be Darth Vader, others, just unhappy with the HAZMAT suit in general.

General Thompson briefed them and then they got tested for the Green flu, most passed and then they were shooed off to the rubble. The skies had turned black and thick, and rain pelted them heavily, and made walking a near impossibility due to mud. They had to go on foot for the trucks would have gotten stuck, so they tentatively approached the rubble that was scattered about a hundred feet from the size, Jason pulling a face when he stepped in a puddle of yellow goo

"Oh god that is disgusting!" He growled, wiping it off with a leaf and continued on, Shawn gave a little nervous laugh, not really sure he wanted to be here at this point. Shawn made a small noise in the back of this throat and entered the building, Jason following him closely and shivering a little "Shawn I really don't think we should be here" Shawn gave Jason a look "Don't be a wimp, boy"

Jason held his tongue and didn't say anything else, but disappeared down the next hallway, cussing a little under his breath, and Shawn laughed. However, their day went from bad, to worse when Jason howled bloody murder, and a loud wailing sounded. Shawn ran to go help his friend, his heart pounding loudly "Please let him be alive, please let him be alive!" He thought, running so fast his boots hardly touched the ground, hoping against hope that Jason was okay.


	2. Chapter 2

Jason screamed as the strange being bit down on his neck, tearing at his suit with its claws, strange yellow goo dripped from its mouth, and it growled loudly. Jason bit the thing's neck as retaliation, gagging when a spray of yellow blood flooded his mouth, and he spat some of it out, the thing tackled him to the ground, holding him down with its weight. Jason's eyes were wide with fear as the creature clasped a massive hand around his neck, the crushing brute strength made the man cough and writhe under the creature's body, his legs kicking wildly, trying to dislodge the foe.

The creature bit down on Jason's shoulder and gnawed on it like a dog would a bone, the soldier screamed bloody murder and arched his back, swinging punches wildly, hitting the creature's neck and side of the head, but the creature didn't let go, tearing at his HAZMAT suit and squeezing his neck as tight as he possible could.

Jason wheezed, his vision started to go black around the edges, and he started to see stars, trying to take a breath, but found he couldn't. The Creature ready to deliver the final blow, Shawn then ran in to the room, gazing at the creature wide eyed, not sure what to do. Jason gasped for air and pawed at the creature's hand, squirming and squeaking, Shawn picked up a piece of rubble and ran at the creature and hit it over the head, continuing to beat it until it let go of Jason and fell over dead, the soldier gasped for air and backed up hastily, panting slightly.

"You okay Jason?" Shawn asked, looking at the dead creature that was bleeding out yellow. Jason nodded and stood up, Shawn turned to look at him "J-Jason did you get bit?" He asked, his eyes wide, Jason nodded once, still breathing heavily "Shawn you can't tell anyone, please! I don't want to get shot!" He whispered, Shawn chewed his lip nervously "You know that we're getting screened again today, your aren't going to pass at all"

He hissed, Jason clutched his ribs, crimson blood spilling out of the wounds, staining his gloves "Just don't tell anyone, I'll figure this out, okay, I just have to lay low for a bit" The soldier murmured, giving the creature one last look, then left the room, holding his wounds closed, Shawn's stomach doing frantic flip-flops. How was he going to hide his best friend's darkest secret?

"Jason, you're bleeding everywhere" Shawn spoke, looking over at his friend, who removed his gloved hands from his wounds, the dark crimson liquid pouring from the gaping gashes, the injured soldier took one look at the nasty gashes and made a gagging noise, feeling his face flush with heat. "Don't puke Jason!" Shawn spoke urgently, Jason gagged again and removed his mask, vomiting on the ground, and Shawn made a strange noise, noting that the contents of Jason's stomach were the same color as the creature's blood.

"Did you swallow some of its blood?" Shawn asked, Jason nodded and gagged again, getting sick a few more times, Shawn's brow furrowed, he knew damn well that the soldier had a chance of getting infected, but he didn't know what kind of infected had attacked him. The straight fact was that Shawn had never seen an infected that looked like that, common or special.

Then a chill went down his spine, Jason had gotten attacked by a newer type of infected that the military didn't know about yet, and if they found out, it could mean nothing but tests for his friend. Jason dry heaved a few times then stood back up and wiped his mouth, burping once and pulled his mask back on "Fucking hell" He commented, his eyes glassy and half closed, one arm held his wounds closed, the other was wrapped around his belly, hiccupping again

"My guts feel like they're on fire" He commented, Shawn bit his lip "What was that anyway?" Jason shook his head "I don't know Shawn, I've never seen one like that before, ever" Shawn nodded once and sighed "C'mon, let's get you back to camp and get you patched up" He spoke

Jason grunted a little "Don't think I can" He rasped, whining a little, leaning against a rubble wall, Shawn made a small noise "You can, you can make it" Jason shook his head, slumping a little. "Losing too much blood" He whispered, the rain pelting him hard, washing the blood away in sick, red puddles, Shawn approached him slowly "You have to get moving, you can't die here, not now" He spoke softly, Jason shook his head "I'm done, I got nowhere to go, I got nothing left" "Don't make me be here by myself, man!" Shawn hissed, Jason closed his eyes "Too tired" "Stay with me! Don't go to sleep Jason! Don't you dare go to sleep"

Jason however, had other plans as his head drooped and his shoulders sagged, Shawn rushing to stop his friend from crumpling to the ground, he grunted and hefted his injured friend up "Christ man you're heavy" He spoke, pulling the unconscious soldier along back to the camp, trying to go as fast as he could. His boot got stuck in the mud and he fell face first in to the much, grunting and groaning a little, his head hurt, his body was on fire.

Shawn groaned loudly and picked him up, working hard to try and get him home safe, rain pelted his body, and the stench of Jason's stomach contents assaulted his nostrils. He felt his lungs burn as he pushed himself to keep going, to keep moving forward. Soon, the camp was in sight, Jason was groaning loudly, his head flopping from side to side, hyperventilating. Shawn pushed himself past the gates and ran in to the medical shack, his tone strained

"HELP! SOMEONE? WE HAVE A MAN DOWN HERE!" A medic came and took Jason from Shawn, who by this time was groaning and panting heavily, thrashing about on the gurney, the medic rushing him in to a bigger room "What happened out there?" He demanded, trying to sedate Jason. Shawn bit his lip and swallowed "Surprise attack" He whispered, not disclosing any more information.

The medic shook his head and went to remove Jason's mask, the soldier not letting him, Shawn pinning him back down on the gurney "Jason stop!" He hissed, the Medic having one hell of a time trying to hold the much taller man down. "Whatever it was, it sure gave him one hell of a scare" Shawn looked over at him "You don't know the half of it"


	3. Chapter 3

The Medic yelled as Jason grabbed his throat and squeezed, letting go and falling back on the bed, spasming and writhing, howling bloody murder. Shawn tried to calm the startled soldier down, however, Jason wasn't having any of it and swung an arm in his direction, a few interns ran in and pinned Jason down while Shawn and the Medic restrained him, tying his body down to the gurney. Once restrained, the Medic administered a powerful anaesthetic that knocked him out cold, the older man giving Shawn a death glare "I've seen many soldiers in my day, and those with PTSD don't have it this bad"

Shawn gave a sheepish shrug, making a frantic noise when Jason swung his arm, catching a tray of utensils and knocking them on to the ground "Didn't you just put him out?" Shawn howled, the Medic stuttered a little "I-I did!" He spoke, eyes wide like saucers. Jason arching his back, thrashing and hitting interns, one of them slumping against the wall, completely out cold "GIVE HIM MORE!" The Medic nodded, administering enough anaesthetic to knock out a small horse, and finally, Jason went limp. Everyone in the room held their breath and waited, Jason did not wake up. "My god, how much did you give him" The Medic took the soldier's pulse, which was still racing and sighed "Hopefully not too much"

Shawn leaned against the wall as two interns wheeled Jason down the narrow passage in to the other little tent where they moved him to a cot made out of a stretcher and four little pegs to hold it up off the ground. They attached an IV to him and the Medic came around, starting to clean and stitch Jason's wounds closed. Shawn slumped against the wall and sighed, panting slightly. After a few hours, the Medic returned "Shawn, go to your bunker and sleep, I'll call for you in the morning" Shawn nodded and slowly left the medical tent, hands in his pockets, thinking about his friends safety.

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The medic sighed and took Jason's blood samples, adding a drop of it to a glass slide, adding a drop of saline to it, then stuck it under the microscope, and what he saw made his blood run cold. He made a small noise and looked up "Natalie, come here" He spoke, pulling the young nurse over to his station "What am I supposed to-" "Look, don't talk" Natalie rolled her grey eyes and looked down in to the microscope, making a startled noise "What is going on? That virus thing is consuming the cells at an alarming rate!" She backed up and sat down in a separate chair "Who's blood sample is this?" "Jason black's blood. He got attacked today, and he's been acting weird ever since" Natalie's eyes widened, not Jason...anyone but him...

"His body is riddled with these awful scratches, he needed over fifty stitches to close them all" Natalie stood up and looked away, her eyes finding the soldier's sleeping form, his chest rising and falling quickly, almost as if he was panting, and panting heavily at that "W-what's wrong with him?" The medic sighed and stood up, soon standing beside her, removing his glasses and cleaning them off with the hem of his scrub "He's running an extremely high fever, one common to those with the green flu" Natalie turned to face him, shock registering with her "Have you even bothered to bring it down at all?" The medic made a small noise "Doll, he's so pumped full of meds and god knows what else, his angry and toxic liver would quit if I gave him anything else."

Natalie swallowed and absentmindedly played with her hair, worried now. It was so surprising to see the Medic stumped, let alone stoop to a level that which it had escaped and spilled over in to recklessness. He had never 'pumped' his patients full of medication, and who knew at this point how high the soldier's fever was, and how many medications and such were circulating in his blood stream. "Why did you have to give him so much?" She asked quietly, her tone now very, very soft "He woke up a few seconds after I had administered an anaesthesia shot. I had to double the dose to knock him out, and continuously pump it through him to keep him under. It has to be re-administered every few hours" Natalie, by this time, had a horrified look on her face "So whatever ailment he has, you just keep him under sedation until he either dies or get through it?"

She demanded, giving him a look, the Medic shook his head "It's for his own good, he nearly ripped his stitches out a few hours ago, Natalie. He needs time to heal, for his body to regenerate lost cells and blood" She scowled "I talked to Shawn, he said Jason nearly bled out on the way back here, is that true?" The medic shook his head "Not completely, no. He had lost a fair amount of blood, but not enough to require me to attach a blood bag to him and transfer it. Besides, any new blood I give him could be rejected, or worse, infected with whatever the old blood cells have" The Medic told her, tone flat and cold.

Natalie turned away from him, slowly approaching Jason's sleeping form, gently touching the hard rubber of the mask, pulling her hand away "You have to do something about that fever! He's burning hot, look at him!" The Medic sighed "I can't give him anything else!" "What about an Ice bath?" The medic bit his lip somewhat "It might work, but you'll have to hold his head up so he doesn't drown" Natalie sighed and nodded once, she would have, if it had been in better circumstances, jumped for joy, but at this current moment, all she could do was stare, as if she was told something that was impossible "A-alright" She murmured, going to go fill up a tin tub with cold water, hoping that it would help bring Jason's fever down. The medic brought Jason in, with Natalie's help, they set the drugged up man in to the cool water, and she swore she heard his warm body hiss when it came in to contact with the cool water. She pulled up a chair and sat at the tub, holding Jason's head and neck out of the water.

He remained inside for a full thirty minutes before his temperature started to go down, Natalie having kept a close eye on the rampant rise and fall of his breathing, and the ragged sound of his breath, which had calmed considerably in to a light panting, he was no longer gasping for air, so it was a decided improvement. With a small grunt, the Medic returned and helped her remove the soldier from the water, which had gone warm from his presence inside it. They placed him back on his gurney, then his hospital stretcher, wrapping him up in a few thick comforters, Natalie left the room, sighing somewhat.

Throughout the next four days, the Medic kept Jason under sedation until his condition started to worsen, not improve like they had originally wanted it to. During this time, there was quite a bit of testing to do, and it was done, and the medic refused to diagnose the young man with the Green flu, even though he was exhibiting all the typical symptoms. During the nights, Natalie stayed with Jason, keeping him comfortable and giving him regular Ice baths to keep the fever at bay. On the fourth morning, Jason stirred, groaning somewhat, but almost feeling better. Shawn had woken up early on the fourth day and had come, like he did every morning, with a pack of cigarettes in his hand, lighter in his pocket and a book. He entered the tent and looked at Natalie, who was standing in his way "Natalie, can you move a few degrees to your left" She nodded once "Sure" She spoke, Shawn moving so he was past her, then turned to look at her "He still out?"

She nodded once "Sadly, but he should be waking up shortly" Shawn nodded and pulled up a stool, opened his book and started to read aloud a few pages of Jason's favourite book, ten minutes later, Jason stirred, making small, muffled noises "Mmm..." He spoke, lifting his hands to take the mask off of his face, four days worth of stubble on his face "Hey Shawn" He spoke, his voice hoarse "Hey Jason...how are you feeling?" The soldier shrugged "Could be better...did you bring me something that contains tobacco?" He asked, Shawn smirked "Sure did, how about a cigarette?" He suggested, Jason nodded, his friend pulling out a pack of smokes, lit two, handed one to Jason and cracked a window above them open. Thankful, the ill soldier inhaled deeply on the cancer stick, exhaling softly.

"There you go, you deserve it" Shawn spoke, his tone soft, Jason let out a deep chuckle "So how've things been with everyone?" He asked, his friend sighed "Things are going well, if you think that gunning down infected is fun, then yeah. We managed to go back to that old building where you got...attacked" "And?" "I got rid of the body for you...none of us needed that memory lounging about now did we?" He asked, Jason stared at him for a moment before giving one flow nod, coughing a little, then took another hard pull on his cigarette "Glad to see your out of the land of sleep for once" He nodded "felt like I slept for days..." Shawn laughed "You did, lucky bastard" The ill soldier chuckled lightly before giving a round of hacking coughs, covering his mouth with a cloth. Shawn gently patted his back until the coughing subsided, and even then, Jason was left gasping for breath

"Those don't sound healthy" "They aren't, doc says I have fluid in my lungs" He spoke, stretching a little. There was a large audible crack, and Jason howled bloody murder, falling against the sheets, screaming loudly, Shawn running to go get help, wondering what was going on. The Medic ran up to him "What's going on?" "I don't know, he stretched and his back cracked like he had just snapped it in half" Shawn whispered, the medic paled, tugging Natalie along, as well as another intern and they loaded Jason on to the gurney, the slight movement causing the poor soldier to wail bloody murder, almost like a banshee. They wheeled him in to a room to take X-rays, Shawn slumped against the wall, eyes wide. Something was seriously wrong with his friend, and whatever it was, he didn't think Jason would be getting healthier.


	4. Chapter 4

Jason was panicking, people were touching him, he didn't know what was going on, his vision was fading around the edges, and his breathing picked up pace. However his panting caused him to let out and eerie wail, a sound that made the whole medical team stop moving for a minute, the soldier screaming even louder, then howling, clawing at the bed sheets and writing on the gurney, crying like an injured deer. "Stop touching me!" He screamed when an unlucky intern pressed a little too rough on his back, the Medic giving the intern a rather harsh look "You need to be gentle, he could have some spinal injuries!" He hissed, Natalie and a few other Inters getting Jason to roll on to his stomach, Natalie noticing that his boot clad feet hung off the end of the gurney, trying to remember if he had ever been that tall. "Sir..?" The Medic gave her a harsh look "Not now Natalie. Just take the damn X-rays and put him under!" He ordered, howling when Jason swung and arm and caught his chest, sending him flat on his back.

Natalie took a few shots of his back in three different places once Jason wasn't squirming around and then had them printed, the interns returning the injured man back to his stretcher, giving him some morphine, wanting him to stay awake. Jason's eyes flicked around every part of the room, his breathing fast and shallow, he just wanted the pain to go away, the mind numbing pain that punctuated his life now. Natalie hung the X-rays over the light board and looked them over, noticing lines between the vertebrae in his back

"Look at this" She spoke, getting the Medic to turn and look at what she was pointing at "What the hell are those?" She asked, the Medic adjusted his glasses and leaned in a little, staring at the X-ray print outs "Those look like...new bone growth. However that's not remotely possible, we are born with the amount of bones we carry for our entire lives, this is so...so strange" The Medic murmured, gently reaching out a hand to touch the print outs, completely dumbfounded.

Natalie gave him a soft look "Do more tests! Try and find some sort of disease that corresponds with his symptoms! I don't know, maybe even look in your book?" She snapped, glaring at him, Jason vaguely aware of the exchange going on inside the office. He could hear them yelling, but everything to him was muffled to the point where he could only hear the rise and fall of the tones of their voices. He looked around the room a little bit more and then stared over at the table beside his stretcher, staring at the water in the cup. He reached for it half-assed, a little out of it from the mixture between the tiny amount of morphine he received or the excruciating pain he was feeling in his body. He slowly inched his arm towards it without trying to hurt his back.

He saw little prickles of colors at the corners of his eyes, along with the darkness as it spread out. Jason fought it hard, knowing full well that if he let the darkness win, he'd pass out cold, and he wouldn't want to do that. If he moved too much in his sleep or someone moved him even a tiny fraction of an inch, it would cause shooting pains up his back and wake him up.

Jason didn't even want to move right now either, he just wanted to melt in to the blankets and alleviate some of the stress his weight was putting on his spine, however, his throat felt like it was closing up, and his fever was getting to be unbearable. He spread his fingers apart, slowly turning himself on to his stomach to reach it, stopping when his back cracked, and he fell back flat on his stomach, screams muffled through the pillow his face was buried in. The mild amount of pain killer was starting to wear off, and the more it did, the hazier his mind became and the more his eyes watered. Pain was hitting him in full, crashing waves, shocking his body like he was getting whipped with a cat o' nine tails made of live wires. He cried loudly in to his pillow, and tilted his head when the pain had dulled just to the point of being almost bearable, and clasped his hand around the cup.

Jason shivered as he felt the large temperature difference between his skin and the cold plastic that the water had chilled, and slowly moved his arm back towards the bed, his body shaking slightly. He gingerly set the lip of the cup against his mouth for a moment, enjoying the cool temperature bringing relief to his burning skin, then he tipped the cup, drinking the water slowly, but with intent on finishing it all in one go. When it was finished, he felt a horrible shooting pain in his stomach and dropped the cup on the floor, curling up in a ball despite the obvious protesting of his back.

He howled again, the Medic and Natalie entering the room, going over to the injured soldier to see if he was alright. Jason groaned and started gagging, holding his belly tightly, feeling like something with serrated claws was tearing at his insides, Natalie gently rolled him over to his side so that his head was partially hanging off the stretcher "What's wrong with him now?" She demanded, the Medic shook his head "I don't know, to be completely honest" He spoke, Jason felt a burning sensation in his throat and then got violently sick, shaking and moaning, begging for the pain to stop. He gave a round of hacking coughs, stopping halfway through and making a strangled noise when his ribs cracked a bit and he hacked something up. Natalie stared at it, a thick yellow substance landed on the floor, and she looked over at the Medic "The hell is that?"

"It looks like some sort of highly viscous fluid...probably mucus..." The medic trailed off, kneeling down to take a swab of it and stuck it in a test tube for future testing "Although, if it is mucus, I've never seen it that exact color before...it almost looks as if it's riddled with disease" He muttered, Natalie gave him a horrified look, gently brushing some of Jason's hair off of his sweaty forehead "Then test it! See what's making him so sick!"

The medic gave one nod and made his way back to his office, Natalie sighing "Jason, what's wrong with you?" she asked, her tone soft, almost a whisper as she leaned over and placed a tender kiss on the top of his head, then stood up to leave "I'll go get you some more water, alright?" She spoke, Jason blinking at her, but not really moving, in too much pain from his sudden movements. His grey eyes flicked over to the Medics office, Natalie was screaming at him for some reason, but he didn't know why.

It was then that he noticed her, a thin woman standing in the doorway of the medical bay, although, from what he could see, her silhouette was curvy, and her hair was very, very long, nearly to the top of her butt. She reached up and flicked off the lights, causing Jason to make a rather angry noise, but then he blinked, his eyes adjusting to the dark, and as she walked closer, he noticed something. He could see in the dark. He noticed her eyes first, like shards of ice blue crystal framed with thick black lashes, soft pink lips and an oval shaped face. Her hair was white blonde, and in her hand, she held a rather impressive needle. She approached his stretcher and smiled, running her hand up his chest, then started ruffling his hair almost playfully. Jason was just starting to enjoy it, then she grabbed it tight, yanking his head back, causing the injured soldier to whimper, his neck cracking painfully.

"I know what you are, infected" She whispered hoarsely, Jason stared at her for a while, how did she know? Fear bubbled up inside him, whatever she was planning on doing to him, it wasn't going to be good.

"Do you know what this is?" The strange woman asked, holding the needle up for him to see, Jason glaring at her, shaking visibly and hissing deeply "I'm going to do a little test, if you live, you may be of value to me after all, if not, well there are plenty more infected where you came from" She muttered, sticking the needle in his arm and wandered off, Jason howling and scratching at his arm, whatever she had injected burned like the fires of hell.

He writhed against the pillows and sheets, howling again, however, it cut off midway, his voice lost from straining it too much earlier that day. He soon found he couldn't move either, and panted heavily, glaring daggers at the woman as she walked away. He started to panic, having to fight for every little breath now, and finding it impossible to swallow to wet his dry throat, fear coiled around his heart and he made weak, choking noises, grabbing fistfuls of the bed sheets, staring fearfully at the door to the Medics office.

Would anyone hear him choking, fighting for his breath...or hear him slowly die?


	5. Chapter 5

GAH! I'm sorry I haven't uploaded this chapter, I forgot I had even written this! I should be more attentive to this story now, I promise!

I own nothing that has to do with anything concerning Valve or Left 4 Dead, if I did, I'd be comfortable wealthy. The only thing I own is the Banshee's concept and design, as well as a small handful of characters, anything else is copyright to Valve and the creators.

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Jason stared at the ceiling, his throat slowly closing up, having to fight for each little breath, each inhale was met with extreme resistance, his lungs felt like they were on fire, screaming at him for just a small taste of oxygen, anything and more then what they were getting now. He looked to the ceiling and saw stars, his vision fading to black, his heart slowing down, the burning sensation that had once only been a faint tickle at the edge of his fingertips blazed with scorching pain and was now overtaking his body. Jason was slowly starting to understand that he was, in fact coming to a slow and painful end, everything was over, life as he knew it was leading up to an abrupt and tragic death, then again, if he could laugh, he would have, he'd be thankful to die, the damn virus that was growing inside him was getting stronger each day, consuming everything, hell, at this point, he welcomed death with open arms.

However he made a vow, if he ran in to that damn woman that injected hell's fire in to his veins, he'd rip her limb from limb until she was nothing but a bloody pile on the floor. He'd enjoy cracking that pretty little skull of hers, watching her bleed, plead for mercy as he ripped her guts out and cry when she found out that he wasn't going to let her go...oh yes...that would be a very sweet form of revenge. It was such a vivid daydream...so vivid that Jason could almost taste the smell of her blood, thick and metallic, like liquid copper on his tongue. He craved it now, it was a strange feeling, one of wanting and longing deeply rooted in his chest, like a smoker itching for a cigarette, he needed to hurt her, he wanted to, nothing else mattered to him but hurting her now.

He was snapped back in to reality when the door to the medic's office opened, and Natalie stared at him for a moment, then, noting his distress, started walking towards him, horror and fear written across her face, her pretty brownish red hair falling out from her hands, landing abruptly at her shoulders. Jason watched as each strand slowly fell in to place and she picked up her pace, even though she was probably gunning it towards him for dear life, to the infected soldier, it looked like she was going in slow motion.

He then realized, after a moment of solidly staring at her, that he didn't have a clue who the hell she was, or where he was, his heart began to beat frantically in his chest, pounding so hard he thought it would break his ribs at any second, and with the added toxicity of the chemicals, it was sending his body and mind in to a lethal state of shock. Jason felt a low growl start in his chest as she came closer, and without knowing what he was doing, he reared up and snarled at her, swinging his arm to warn her. Natalie let out a surprised yell as his arm hit her chest and sent her tumbling backwards, sprawled out on the wooden floor.

Natalie stared at him wide eyed as he hissed at her again, the Medic now running towards Jason, uncapped syringe in hand. He plunged it in to the soldier's arm, depressing the colorless liquid in to his blood stream, the soldier turned and went after the medic, reaching for him and his fingertips just grazed the collar of his lab coat. He got a hold of it and pulled back hard, the Medic falling and smacking his head off the floor, blood starting to ooze out of a cut. Jason moved to get up off the gurney, and set one foot on the floor, only to have his back crack loudly and his eyes roll towards the back of his head and fall completely off the gurney, frozen and unable to move.

Natalie bit her lip and brushed some hair off of her face, taking a shaky breath as she slowly crawled towards Jason's body, clutching her ribs and yelping when she tried to breathe deeply. Automatically, she knew her ribs had been broken, probably in multiple places, as Jason had hit her very, very hard. Her dark brown eyes were wide as she grasped his limp wrist, checking his pulse, and let his wrist go the moment she felt nothing, not even a faint little thump-thump. Natalie sucked in a sharp breath, tears biting at her eyes "No...not you...anyone but you..." She whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks, she rolled him on to his back, pulling a defibrillator off the counter and on to the floor, and she set it up beside the soldier.

She cut Jason's tank top off with some thick handled scissors and then rubbed the static paddles together, taking a deep breath and pressed the paddles to his chest, releasing the charge. Jason's body tensed and jolted, Natalie held her breath and counted to ten, then checked his pulse, nothing. Again, she rubbed the static paddles together and pressed them to his chest, Jason's back arched and left the floor for a brief moment, then fell back down, Natalie checking the pulse yet again. Nothing. She started to sob heavily now, rubbing the static padddles together once again, trying desperately to kick start his heart over and over again, and by the end she was nearing hysterics.

She was about to press the paddles to his chest again, then he took a deep gasping breath, rolling over on his side and coughing violently, curling up in a ball and whimpering. Each time he coughed, a thick spray of reddish yellow blood coated the floor, Natalie reaching out to touch him, gently rubbing his shoulder, trying to comfort him. After a few minutes, Jason began to gag and dry heave, slowly rolling on to his knees, a burning sensation in the back of his throat, his stomach doing frantic little flip flops, the burning sensation that once consumed his body now only burned in his abdomen, and it was starting to make him really feel like he was going to vomit. He began to drool a thick yellow fluid on to the floor, the toxic acidic fluid began to eat away at his cheeks, leaving patches of raw muscle exposed. Natalie watching in a form of awe-struck disgust, Jason heaving and throwing up what remnants of the toxin were in his body.

He looked up and stared at the wall, he still had no idea where he was, but he had a feeling that the woman who was laying on the floor next to him wasn't a threat, in fact, she seemed to carry no possibility of a threat to him at all, however the man on the floor...he was bleeding everywhere...Natalie stared at Jason, he was acting like he had forgotten completely where he was or who he was, and looked about ready to bolt for the nearest exit, if he could move faster then 0.5 miles an hour "Jason...?" She asked, gently touching his shoulder with the very ends of her fingertips, Jason whirled and snarled at her, yellow drool leaking from his mouth and on to the floor "J-Jason? Can you hear me?" She asked, the soldier stared at her, still snarling, about to lunge at her until he fell to the floor, out cold, Natalie looked up to see the medic standing there, a heavy book in his hands

"I figured a little brute force wouldn't kill him" She gave him a hate fueled look that somehow managed to change to one of respect, yes, she was angry at the medic, but if he hadn't stepped in, Jason would have killed her "What do we do now? His mind is gone...He doesn't know who we are anymore" Natalie choked out, the Medic sighed "I don't know, we could try and bring him back, but it probably won't happen, whatever made him start to asphyxiate probably caused permanent brain damage" She nodded once, her tears falling and staining the old wooden floor, she couldn't handle it anymore, the pain of seeing the man she loved slowly turning in to a monster was too much for her, a wave of powerful emotions flowed forth and horrified sobs ripped themselves from her chest as she curled in on herself, rocking slowly.

The Medic sighed and got a few interns to help him place Jason back on the gurney, half of his calves now hung fully off the bed, his chest rising and falling slowly, like he was in a very deep state of sleep "Come now, it's time you got some sleep" The Medic murmured softly, helping Natalie to her feet and slowly escorted her to her cot, sitting beside her to try and comfort her. The blonde bombshell stood in the door of the infirmary, staring at the soldier, who was breathing and to her, very much alive "You may be of use to me after all" She murmured, giving a soft little giggle and wandered off, the thunder slowly rolling in, rain pelting heavily down on the roof. The thunder clapped loudly, causing the soldiers to huddle in their bunk houses, those on patrol took shelter.

Jason opened his eyes, a long, loud growl ripping itself from his throat, food, all he could smell was food.


End file.
